In a not-so-shocking revelation, former Playboy Playmate Holly Madison has shed light on the disturbing reason behind Hugh Hefner’s strict ban on red lipstick for his Playmates. Despite its allure and popularity, the iconic red shade was strictly prohibited by Hefner — a somewhat confusing rule, considering Playboy’s provocative aesthetic.
To fully understand Hefner’s ban on red lipstick, it’s important to look back at the the origins of Playboy and its founder’s vision. When Hefner launched Playboy magazine in 1953, he aimed to challenge societal norms and redefine the concept of sensuality. However, it didn’t take long for critics to accuse him of objectification and exploitation.
As the Playboy empire grew, Hefner’s control over the appearance and behavior of his Playmates became increasingly apparent. The strict rules imposed on these women raised eyebrows, but one particular prohibition stood out from the rest – the ban on red lipstick.
Enter Holly Madison, a former Playboy Playmate who dared to speak out against the oppressive regime within the Playboy Mansion — which Hefner did not care for much when he was still alive. According to Madison, Hefner’s aversion to red lipstick was not merely a matter of personal preference. It was a calculated move to project a specific image onto his Playmates.
“I think it was a control tactic,” Madison explained to Coco Mocoe on the podcast “Ahead of the Curve,” per Buzzfeed. “But also when I was brand new I wore red lipstick out a couple of times and he didn’t say anything about it. Because when you were the new girl in the group you were always treated well,” Madison explained.
Holly Madison and Hugh Hefner at the wedding of Film director Charlie Matthau, son of Carol and Walter Matthau, and Ashley Lauren Anderson a former principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre.
FilmMagic
“So I would wear red lipstick when I was new and it wasn’t a big deal,” she noted, adding that new Playmates were often treated better at first so that they would feel welcome. “Until like six months into it, when I was living in his bedroom and I was the main girlfriend and he felt like he had the leeway to yell at me over it,” she said.
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Madison further speculated on Hefner’s controlling ban on the lipstick hue, adding, “I think he didn’t love it because when he invented the concept of a playmate in the ’50s he wanted the women to look very young and fresh faced because he felt like the look in the ‘50s at the time was very… He described it as ‘somebody’s older sister.’”
“It was more sophisticated, fashion model, red lipstick,” Madison continued. “It was a lot of fabric and big skirts and everything and he hated that. He wanted skimpy and fresh-faced and very young looking.”
“So I think that’s where his hatred of red lipstick came from,” Madison concluded. “That was an older mature woman and it wasn’t, like, the barely legal thing anymore.”
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Madison isn’t the only former Playmate to open up about Hefner’s abusive behavior in the Playboy Mansion. Crystal Hefner, who was married to the Playboy founder from 2012 until his death in 2017, opened up about healing from her traumatic experience at the Playboy Mansion in her memoir Only The Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself.
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